Update: I was unfortunately not aware of Shamus Young's severe criticism of Fallout 3 available here to link in the original piece and I regret that. It dovetails rather nicely with what I've written and it's much better executed than my piece. I strongly recommend anyone...

Strike Suit Zero is basically a clone of Colony Wars. (down to some of the sound FX) 17 years later, with HD visuals, the power of multicore CPU's over one Gigabyte of video Memory and the lack of disc loading times. Unfortunately, Strike Suit Zero pales in comparison to its 17 year old forebearer - which is actually a better game to play. How is this so?

#1 SSZ tosses a "mecha" robot suit into the mix which must be recharged via "flux" - a bonus award granting you the ability to transform and use slightly more powerful weapons than you could as a spaceship. Unfortunately, it doesn't come together as you might hope it would. Switching to suit mode doesn't make you any stronger and only makes you a bigger target for the computer controlled opponents which are already excellent shots. The mecha can dodge attacks, but the control scheme is horrible for doing so.

#2 Speaking of controls, the original Playstation offered a DUAL ANALOG FLIGHT STICK (I still have), which is probably the best designed joystick I've used other than Saitek's X-45. The DAFS allowed you full access to all the fighter's controls and made piloting from the 1st person perspective simple, fun and immersive. Probably the best space combat sim ever made (since Babylon 5 never hit production).

These controls are awkward and never give you the full feeling of flight or space combat I got out of the 17 year old PS game. Even the PS controller functioned better.

#3 Combat is tedious and not as exciting as COLONY WARS'.

The HUD is the biggest victim here, lacking a roll indicator, speedometer, radar, and more. These are staples of even the simplest of flight games, and without them, it can be difficult to keep track of where your enemies and allies are during a big fracas. Facing four to one odds in a dogfight an be an enjoyable challenge, but not when you're flying blind and have no idea who or what is hitting you.

#4 The weapons aren't very exciting, The mecha suit is unnecessary (since you never fight on the ground or land on the hull of spacecraft or space stations to fight (ala Teknoman) and the J-Pop techno music is downright annoying. Colony Wars had an excellent orchestra-grade Sci-Fi/military soundtrack which is still excellent to this day.

#5 The game has a ranking system which feels tacked on. An afterthought - you won't have any clear understanding of how you're performing until you've been graded at mission's end.

OVERALL: There are iPhone apps far superior in execution which offer superior space combat fun than this game.STAR PAGGA is one of the better games I can think of. The Galaxy on Fire series are even better.

I downloaded Strike Suit Zero free on Xbox One's Games For Gold. It is an interesting diversion, but not well executed or polished. If I'd paid for it, I'd be upset.